Syracuse native Lisa Gentile is 5th woman to accuse Chris Noth of sexual assault

Syracuse native Lisa Gentile has come forward as the fifth woman to publicly accuse “Sex and the City” actor Chris Noth of sexual assault.

Gentile, a 49-year-old singer-songwriter who won a SAMMY (Syracuse Area Music Award) for Best Country Record in 2007, appeared in a virtual news conference Thursday with attorney Gloria Allred, alleging that Noth, 67, abused her at her apartment in New York City nearly two decades ago.

Gentile said she met Noth in 1998, when they were both regulars at Manhattan restaurant Da Marino Ristorante Italiano. They became acquaintances, she said, and he gave her a ride home in early 2002 and asked to see her apartment.

Gentile, who was 29 at the time, said she showed him the kitchen and offered him wine. He then leaned her against the countertop and started forcibly kissing her and shoving his hands under her shirt, groping her breasts. She tried to push his hands away, she said, but he pushed them towards his penis.

“He was slobbering all over me. I quickly became uncomfortable,” she said.

Gentile said she was able to escape his grasp and yelled “No, I don’t want this.” Noth allegedly became enraged, calling her a “tease” and a “bitch” before storming out of her apartment.

According to The Daily Beast, Noth allegedly called her the next day and threatened to ruin Gentile’s music career.

“I was afraid to come forward because of Mr. Noth’s power and his threats to ruin my career,” Gentile said Thursday. “I’m speaking out now in support of the other four women who have courageously come forward before me. I feel that we should have our day in court to seek to hold Mr. Noth accountable for what he did.”

At the time, Noth was famous for his roles as Mr. Big on “Sex and the City,” which originally ran from 1998 to 2004, and as Detective Mike Logan on “Law & Order” from 1990 to 1995. He also starred on “The Good Wife” and reprised his “SATC” role in the recent HBO series “And Just Like That ...”

The Los Angeles Times reports Gentile told her roommate about the alleged incident when it happened. Allred said it had “a very serious emotional impact” on Gentile, but did not say if it affected her career.

Gentile did not immediately respond to requests for comment from syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.

Allred said it’s too late for Gentile to get “justice” and sue Noth because the statute of limitations in New York has expired. Allred said Gentile “believes it is time for the law to change and that is why she is speaking out today.”

Allred called on the stars of “And Just Like That ...,” an HBO Max sequel to “SATC” featuring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, to “take action to speak out in support” of the Adult Survivors Act in New York and urged New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to consider extending the statute.

Noth was first accused of rape and sexual assault by two women last week, saying they had been triggered by Noth’s recent appearance in “And Just Like That ...” Noth denied the allegations as “categorically false,” saying the years-old encounters were “consensual.”

A third woman came forward a day later, telling The Daily Beast that Noth had kissed and groped her against her will at Da Marino in 2010. A fourth woman, Heather Kristin, accused Noth of “toxic behavior” and said he slid his hand down her back and “over my butt” when she was working as Davis’s stand-in on “Sex and the City.”

Noth has since been dropped by his talent agency, A3 Artists Agency, and fired from the CBS TV show “The Equalizer.”

He denied knowing the third accuser and has not addressed the allegations made by Gentile.

Gentile is a musician who grew up in Syracuse, but moved to New York City with her family in sixth grade so she could pursue a career in entertainment. She attended the High School of Performing Arts in NYC while the family kept a second home in Eastwood. Her mother was born in Syracuse and her father, former Motown producer Mickey Gentile, taught at Onondaga Community College and Le Moyne College. Lisa also briefly attended Syracuse University, her father’s alma mater.

Gentile returned to Syracuse in 2006, won a SAMMY Award for best country recording, and started a local charity organization called Music Heals CNY to help patients in hospitals and nursing homes. According to Table Hopping CNY, she moved to Nashville in 2009 and now reportedly calls New York home, though she still performs in Syracuse.